Towards the Top 0.01%
Episode 9 of Green Mothers Club starts with Chun-Hui and Eun-Pyo reflecting on the fiery encounter in the restaurant. With Eun-Pyo promising to stomp her into the ground and Chun-Hui humiliated from her encounter, both mums go on the offensive. Eun-Pyo lands the first blow, keeping the “big mouth” mothers in check and visiting the academy after, berating the teacher and demanding that Dong-Seok’s name be taken off the flyers used to promote the school. Meanwhile, Chun-Hui plays damage control. She heads off and tries to arrange an individualized study program for Yu-Bin. The thing is, it would entail lots of late nights and gruelling studying. Chun-hui doesn’t care. She doesn’t even bother to ask Yu-Bin, instead deciding this is what’s best for her. Over with Eun-Pyo again, she prints out a whole bunch of papers relating to an upcoming study competition at Sungmyung University and then again at the University of Education. She wants to enter Dong-Seok and have him finish in first place. In doing so, that would shake up the hierarchy and also have the knock-on effect of allowing the “top student” to always be the one who is believed over the “lowly” kids (what’s happened with Yu-Bin and Dong-Seok prior to this was, largely, based on social standing with the Mums. Eun-pyo has now realized this and is playing them at their own game.) This “Mum War” is certainly getting out of hand though. Not only does Eun-Pyo make Dong-Seok study up until midnight, but Dong-Ju ends up sleeping alone on the floor. When Jae-Ung returns home, he speaks to Eun-Pyo and comments how ironic it is that she’s becoming more like Chun-Hui as a result. Young-Mi finds out that before Jin-Ha died, her husband, Oh Gun-Woo, used to come over to her house 4 times a week. The housekeeper is adamant they didn’t have an affair, pointing out that Jin-Ha was in love with Luis. Still, that doesn’t stop the fact that Gun-Woo came over the night before she died and was desperate to see her. So what was Jin-Ha and Gun-Woo hiding? Sifting through her husbands belongings brings up some clues. Young-Mi finds sketches of Jin-Ha, locks of hair and even a lipstick stain on a handkerchief. Oh and also her purple jumper meticulously folded up too. Whether it’s an affair or obsession, it’s clear her husband has a lot of secrets. At the university competition, the kids all sit down and prepare for the test. When Chun-Hui sees Eun-Pyo in the restaurant, she’s incredulous and scoffs at her. However, Eun-pyo has her number and leaves Chun-Hui stewing at the till. The pressure is really on, especially when Chun-Hui learns that the difficult of the test has actually been increased this year, which piles on the pressure for all the kids. That evening the results come in, with Eun-Pyo and Chun-Hui both in their respective homes checking the website. Eun-Pyo is delighted and pretty smug, especially when it’s revealed that Dong-Seok has come first. All the mums and congratulate her, marvelling at Dong-Seok winning the grand prize. At Chun-Hui’s Academy, all the mums head in and watch as the scores for their children are written up on the whiteboard. Lagging behind is Yeong-Bin, who only scores an 84.2. He’s about to get kicked out the academy. Taking his place is going to be the grand prize winner…Dong-Seok. After introducing herself, Eun-Pyo watches as Chun-Hui is then asked to leave. She waits for Eun-Pyo in the parking lot though, where a desperate Chun-Hui confronts Eun-Pyo over what’s happened. She points out that she helped Eun-Pyo when no one else did. Eun-Pyo shrugs her off though and promises that her betrayal cuts deep, so deep in fact that she’s going to pay her back tenfold. Man-Su receives a message from Chun-Hui that night, which he tells Yun-Ju is actually work. He shows up at the restaurant where Chun-Hui is sitting, eating food and drinking shots. Man-Su looks awkward and uncomfortable, which Chun-hui brings up when she discusses the past. Specifically, she reflects on how she betrayed Man-Su when they were going out. Chun-Hui believes this is the pivotal moment when her life fell apart. She apologizes to her ex, and in her bitter regret the pair continue to reminisce before going their separate ways. Chun-Hui’s issues are only made worse when she falls behind on payments. Her family aren’t much help and the bills are piling up. With little other choice, Chun-Hui messages her contact and brings out that brown bag stashed in her closet from before. She’s desperate and drives off to an unknown woman’s house, where she prepares to inject her with Propofol. If you’re wondering what this is by the way, it’s general anesthesia that decreases consciousness and generally puts you to sleep for medical procedures. Interestingly, a quick google search will tell you it also contributes toward a “lack of memory for events.” Meanwhile, Eun-Pyo heads home and puts her kids to sleep. While cleaning up their room, she accidentally knocks Dong-Seok’s crane off the counter. Opening it up though, she notices that it reads the words “Your wicked deeds.”
The Episode Review
Green Mothers Club marks its halfway point with a change of fate for most of our characters. Eun-Pyo has finally come out of her shell and she’s helping Dong-Seok fulfil his potential. Eun-Pyo is now actually properly studying with her child, which is a far cry from her wishy-washy attitude episodes ago where she caved in to Dong-Seok messing about. Although to play devil’s advocate, one could argue that this is resulting in her forgetting about Dong-Ju, given he was asleep on the floor at the time. However, seeing all the family together at karaoke and having a good time would lead one to believe that Eun-Pyo has managed to strike the right balance – thanks in part to Jae-Ung’s steady hand as a loving Father. Green Mothers Club has done a pretty good job balancing out the fate of Chun-Hui and Eun-Pyo across the run-time, and this chapter sees Chun-hui start to slip into old habits. It’ll be interesting to see who is banging at the door and just what she’s up to. There’s definitely more here than meets the eye. Likewise, the mystery involving Man-Su and Ju-Seok still hasn’t been fully explored, neither has Gun-Woo’s seeming obsession with Jin-Ha. Thankfully though we’ve got another episode to come tomorrow, leaving the door wide open for where this one may go next.
